Introduction
Education professionals play a vital role in nurturing the mental health and wellbeing of learners and young people, as well as supporting their intellectual growth.
This good practice guide, produced in collaboration with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, provides practical advice on how you can support learners and young people with their mental health and wellbeing, helping you to conform with the EWC’s Code of Professional Conduct and Practice (the Code). This complements our separate guide to supporting your own and colleagues’ mental health and wellbeing.
The Code of Professional Conduct and Practice
As an Education Workforce Council (EWC) registrant, you are committed to upholding the six key principles of the Code:
- Personal and professional responsibility
- Professional integrity
- Collaborative working
- Leadership
- Professional knowledge and understanding
- Professional learning
Under the first key principle (personal and professional responsibility), registrants have a duty of care for the safety, and physical, social, moral, and educational wellbeing of learners and young people. This includes, acting on anything which might put a learner or young person’s safety or welfare at risk, and reporting any safeguarding issue, or any other issue, which may potentially harm a learner or young person’s safety or welfare. In addition, under the second key principle (professional integrity), registrants are required to handle information and data appropriately, applying the necessary protocols to matters relating to confidentiality, sensitivity, and disclosure.
This guide focusses on providing practical advice to help you identify when individuals may need help and to understand how to respond to their needs. It complements specific wellbeing policies that will apply within your place of work, which you should also be familiar with and adhere to.
The current picture
Mind’s 2024 ‘Big Mental Health Report’ identified a 34% increase in the number of children and young people in Wales referred with anxiety between 2015/16 and 2022/23. Related to this, 29% of children in Wales met the threshold for persistent absence in the 2023/24 school year.
Mental health and wellbeing challenges can significantly impact learners and young people, leading to problems with:
- academic performance
- behaviour
- forming and maintaining relationships
- physical health
- self-esteem and confidence
- increased risk of high-risk behaviours
- absenteeism
Mental health risk factors
There are many different factors that contribute to mental health and wellbeing challenges in learners and young people. According to the Anna Freud Mentally Healthy Schools charity, key risks include:
Education-based factors
Academic and exam stress, bullying, concerns about leaving education and future plans, peer pressure, relationships and belonging, absenteeism/exclusion, transitions.
Lifestyle factors
Body image, drugs and alcohol, internet and social media usage, puberty, sleep problems.
Home-based factors
Home environment, parental mental health status, poverty and unemployment, bereavement, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, substance misuse within the household, young carers’ responsibilities.
Vulnerable children
Autism, additional learning needs, neurodiversity, disability and illness, LGBTQ+, gender identity, race and racism, refugee and asylum seeker children, looked-after children, child criminal exploitation.
Certain risk factors are particularly pertinent in Wales, including higher levels of economic inequality than other parts of the UK, and a greater proportion of the population living in rural areas (facing challenges around isolation and access to services). The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also highlighted the particularly high proportion of adults in Wales (47%) who have suffered at least one adverse childhood experience.
Social media
Learners and young people use social media in a range of different ways, and it can help them to access support, receive reassurance, feel connected and manage social anxiety. However, using social media can also become compulsive, fuelling unhealthy social comparisons with others, and perpetuating feelings of isolation. It can also expose learners and young people to bullying and harassment which can feel relentless given the platforms’ availability 24/7. Effective education in digital literacy is therefore crucial to ensure learners and young people understand how to use social media and the internet healthily and responsibly.
Your role as a registered professional
To foster a positive learning environment, in which the mental health and wellbeing of learners and young people, is properly supported, you should ensure that you are familiar with, and adhere to key policies and procedures relevant to your workplace. These might include:
- your employer’s policies on mental health and wellbeing, bullying and harassment, domestic abuse, crisis intervention etc
- confidentiality, safeguarding, and reporting procedures
- the roles of designated health and wellbeing staff, safeguarding leads, and pastoral staff
- established support services for learners and young people (and also for you as a member of staff)
- the approach to health and wellbeing outlined within the Curriculum for Wales
- Welsh Government’s Framework on embedding a whole-school approach to emotional and mental wellbeing and NEST Framework[1]
Recognising a learner or young person who needs support
Education professionals need to be able to recognise the signs that a learner or young person is struggling, and understand that it may be difficult for them to seek help. The NSPCC has highlighted the following common warning signs of mental health and wellbeing issues:
- sudden mood and behaviour changes
- withdrawal from activities or relationships
- sudden poor academic behaviour or performance
- changes in social habits, such as withdrawal or avoiding friends and family
- an increase in absences
- changes in sleep patterns or eating habits
- unexplained physical changes, such as weight loss or gain
- self-harming behaviours
Responding to a learner or young person who needs support
If you are concerned that someone is struggling, you should try to talk to them. These conversations may be hard to initiate but NSPCC advises that the following can help.
Using the right language
Use language that is age-appropriate. Avoid technical language which the learner or young person may find unfamiliar or confusing. Reflect their vocabulary in your own, to help ensure they feel listened to, validated, and heard.
Creating an open environment
It is important to create an open and safe environment where learners and young people are comfortable speaking about their mental health. Ensure they know who they can talk to and try to make this pool of people as wide as possible.
Maintaining an open dialogue
Mental health can change quickly or gradually. Ongoing conversations help maintain trust and ensure consistent support.
In accordance with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), learners should be actively involved in decisions about their care, with views considered based on their age and maturity.
Identifying appropriate support
If a learner or young person confides in you about their mental health, they may ask you to keep what they have said confidential. However, you have a duty of care, and not sharing relevant information could put them, and yourself, at risk. While it’s important to listen with empathy, you should never promise to keep disclosures secret. Instead, reassure them that you will handle their concerns sensitively, and involve the appropriate support to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
The EWC’s Code of Professional Conduct and Practice states that registrants must ‘handle information and data appropriately, applying the necessary protocols to matters relating to confidentiality, sensitivity and disclosure’. If you are concerned about a learner or young person’s safety or welfare, you have a duty to share this information with relevant professionals.
Be guided by your organisation’s policies in identifying the most appropriate way to support the learner or young person after you have spoken to them. You may wish to discuss this with your colleagues or dedicated wellbeing/pastoral/safeguarding lead/officer who will be able to support you.
The importance of ensuring access to appropriate support is further underpinned by Article 24 of the UNCRC, which recognises the right of every child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, and to access facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health. This includes support for mental health, not just physical health. As education professionals, helping to identify and facilitate access to appropriate mental health support is a vital part of upholding this right.
There are various types of support available for people experiencing mental health and wellbeing issues. These include, but are not limited to:
- developing a personal wellbeing plan in collaboration with the learner/young person and others if appropriate (like parents, guardians, or organisational wellbeing officers)
- making reasonable adjustments to support the learner/young person
- using wellbeing resources and tools to help the learner/young person to express themselves
- referring to or liaising with external agencies
- exploring opportunities for community-based support, including youth or playwork projects, community groups and charities, and sport and leisure opportunities
If specialist support is needed, a range of services are available to help learners and young people with their mental health and wellbeing. These include counselling services, helplines, one-to-one counselling sessions, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Local authorities across Wales provide school and community-based counselling services for young people from year 6 through to the age of 18, which can be accessed directly by young people self-referring, as well as via teachers or other trusted adults. NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) play a crucial role in supporting young people with mental health difficulties. Additionally, learners and young people may choose to speak with their GP, who can assess their mental health, provide guidance on next steps, refer them for counselling, and prescribe medication if appropriate.
Useful links and resources:
Anna Freud classroom wellbeing toolkit
Children’s Commissioner for Wales
Hwb Young person's mental health toolkit
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
Welsh Government Framework on embedding a whole-school approach to emotional and mental well-being
[1] This framework is a planning tool for Welsh Government, Regional Partnership Boards, local authorities, health boards, and the voluntary sector. It aims to deliver a ‘whole system’ approach for developing mental health, wellbeing and support services for babies, children, young people, parents, carers and wider families.